Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Scripture

Today’s gospel passage from Luke is one of those that always gives us reason to pause. Isn’t Jesus associated with peace on earth? Isn’t Christianity a “family values” kind of faith? Then why does Jesus say here that he came to establish division? Why does he describe the rending of families?

It seems that what Jesus seeks to communicate is that the gospel is not warm and fuzzy. It is not about “tolerance” as an end in itself. It is not about a kind of peace where everyone has his or her own idea of truth. No, the gospel message – the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection – is controversial. It was controversial at the time, and it remains so today. For those who truly believe that God sent his only Son to earth out of love for us, and that this Son dwelt among us, suffered, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, was buried and rose from the dead, the world looks like a much different place. Christianity is not simply a set of beliefs, but a way of life and a way of interpreting the world and its events.

We catch some glimpse of the differences between life without Christ and life for Christ. St. Paul describes this in his letter to the Romans. Whereas many in the world will see pleasure and material earthly success as the goal or purpose of life, the Christian can recognize sin in such pursuits. For the Christian believer, there can be only one goal, namely sanctification and eternal life. We strive to be holy because we want to share in the divine life of the Trinity. Everything that we do ought to be ordered with this end in mind. But at the same time, we have to recognize sanctification and eternal life as a gift: “The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23). 

For this reason, we will not be surprised at our many times of weakness and failures. We may want to be slaves to righteousness and instead act as slaves to impurity. If we can recognize this, then we have the possibility of God’s forgiveness, and the grace to try again. Sanctification, or the process of being made holy, is not a one-time event, but rather a journey or a pilgrimage to God. We may sometimes find ourselves going backwards or off-path when we intend to be moving forward. All is not lost so long as we keep our end in mind and are willing to regain the proper path. This is life for Christ. It is radical and in some ways revolutionary. It is no surprise that it should cause some degree of division, even among families.

Today, let us meditate on what it means to have sanctification and eternal life as our goal. How can we let our love for God order our lives in a way that both brings us closer to God and bears witness to those around us? Let us pray that we might always be receptive to God’s grace helping us to stick to the path of righteousness.

- Maria Morrow